SLAVERY: Against or For?

My FYS team, The Best Team, did a project in class on what religions were for and which were against slavery. Below you'll see what we found out and the sources we got our information from....

Hannah Chivers:

Slavery is a very controversial subject. There are different viewpoints whether or not religion has an affect on slavery. Biblical reasons are interpreted in favor of slavery. Not only are there direct quotes, there is common sense. If slavery was such a big thing during the Roman World, why is it not documented by Jesus speaking against it. Also in Ephesians 6:5-8 the apostle Paul spoke towards slavery and commanded them about obeying their masters.

https://www.christianitytoday.com/history/issues/issue-33/why-christians-supported-slavery.html I think this is a good legitimate source because they use direct information from reliable sources.

Tatiana Goldberg: http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2012/03/29/how-religion-has-been-used-to-promote-slavery/

Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad never spoke out against slavery. One of them owned slaves, one created laws to regulate slavery, and the other ordered slaves to obey their masters. There was a time when Jews, Muslims, and Christians justified human bondage.

http://www.answers.com/Q/What_religion_was_against_slavery

Quaker people were against slavery. They were a religion of peace and therefore argued against war and slavery.

Alexa Addeo :

According to this article, slaveholders looked to the Bible for confirmation that slavery was accepted by God and their religion. They often pointed out two specific excerpts that identified this belief, one being at the beginning of the Old Testament and the other at the end of the New Testament:

“And the sons of Noah that went forth from the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth: and Ham is the father of Canaan. These are the three sons of Noah: and of them was the whole world overspread. And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard: and he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent. And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without. And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father’s nakedness. And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him. And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren. And he said, Blessed be the Lord God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant. God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant. And Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years.”

They thought that slavery was accepted in Christianity due to the notion that it was also common among the Israelites.

http://time.com/5171819/christianity-slavery-book-excerpt/

This information is supported by TIME magazine, a highly accredited and academic source.

Gabbi Parulis: http://www.ushistory.org/us/27f.asp

The south was made of people who defended slavery. They believed that without slave labor they would lose the cotton economy, tobacco crop, and the rice would no longer be profitable. They went of what the bible told them, that Abraham had slaves.

“Defenders of slavery turned to the courts, who had ruled, with the Dred Scott Decision, that all blacks — not just slaves — had no legal standing as persons in our courts — they were property, and the Constitution protected slave-holders' rights to their property.”

“James Thornwell, a minister, wrote in 1860, ‘The parties in this conflict are not merely Abolitionists and slaveholders, they are Atheists, Socialists, Communists, Red Republicans, Jacobins on the one side and the friends of order and regulated freedom on the other.’”

This website uses direct information and is a reliable source for this topic using quotes and time stamps.

Liz Papell: http://www.worldfuturefund.org/wffmaster/Reading/Religion/slavery.htm

The largest slave trade was created by Christian European nations and the Bible endorses slavery. Also many Christians were convinced that they had a personal relationship with Jesus Christ which allowed them to own slaves. Numerous popes said slavery is acceptable because it is sanctioned by God.

Quotes from the Old Testament that support Slavery

"Your male and female slaves are to come from the nations around you; from them you may buy slaves. You may also buy some of the temporary residents living among you and members of their clans born in your country, and they will become your property." -- Leviticus 25:44-45

"When a slave owner strikes a male or female slave with a rod and the slave dies immediately, the owner shall be punished. But if the slave survives a day or two, there is no punishment; for the slave is the owner's property." -- Exodus 21:20-21.

Quotes from the New Testament that support Slavery

"Slaves, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, in singleness of heart, as you obey Christ; not only while being watched, and in order to please them, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart." -- Ephesians 6:5-6.

"Slaves, accept the authority of your masters with all deference, not only those who are kind and gentle but also those who are harsh. For it is a credit to you if, being aware of God, you endure pain while suffering unjustly. If you endure when you are beaten for doing wrong, what credit is that? But if you endure when you do right and suffer for it, you have God's approval." -- 1 Peter 2:18-29.

I believe World Future Fund is a reliable website because after every article or quote, they have a link to the source in which they took it from from. As well, the URL ends in .org which is more reliable than a website that end in .com.